The Forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies, in partnership with the US-based startup incubator Affinis Labs, held the first-ever Haqqathon ("haqq" means "truth" in Arabic), a 3-day hackathon from April 27-29 that brought together experts in technology, youth culture, entertainment, Islamic scholarship, and other disciplines to create cutting-edge solutions for promoting peace.

Participants at the Haqqathon worked on new social media and digital initiatives that will help Islamic scholars connect with Muslim youth. Teams competed in a fast-paced race against the clock and pitched their ideas in front of judges, a live audience, and a global online audience that watched a live streaming broadcast. The winning teams received prizes and support for incubation at Affinis Labs.

Future Haqqathons are planned around the world that will mobilize Muslim talent to solve global challenges, including such issues as climate change, human trafficking, and refugee crises.

Haqqathon 2015 was a great success, with all entries receiving praise from judges and our online audiences. The winning initiative was Champions of Islam, and the People's Choice award went to Marhubba.com.

"Hacking for Peace" documentary:

Winning Presentation for "Champions of Islam":

Day one Haqqathon summary:

Highlights from the opening session of the Haqqathon on Day one.#haqqathon

Champions of Islam is a game & community that helps Muslim youth ages 15-25 to build identities based on Prophetic example as well as contemporary Muslim male role models. Through a series of intellectual, physical, and spiritual challenges based on the Islamic tradition, boys can "compete with one another in good works". (Qur'an 2:148).

Feasibility

4.48/5

Scalability

4.35/5

Innovation

4.41/5

Likely impact

4.33/5

MarhubbaPEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARD

Marhubba is an online platform that connects Muslim youth with traditional Islamic scholarship to discuss relationships, intimacy, and sexuality in an honest, welcoming and safe environment rooted in Prophetic tradition.

Feasibility

4.62/5

Scalability

4.55/5

Innovation

4.36/5

Likely impact

4.09/5

Quest 99

Quest99 is a mobile application that produces user-generated content that seeks to solve local, national and International challenges in partnership with Imams, Scholars and community members. It harnesses the “wisdom of crowds” to unearth the highest quality content and uses gaming mechanism to ensure return engagement by participants.

Feasibility

4.46/5

Scalability

4.386/5

Innovation

4.33/5

Likely impact

4.19/5

60 Seconds Scholar

60 Seconds Scholar is a mobile video app that connects young people to authoritative religious scholars. The app allows the youth to ask their most pressing questions, and receive timely answers in a shareable video format.

Feasibility

4.31/5

Scalability

4.34/5

Innovation

4.53/5

Likely impact

4.22/5

Tao te Zeta

Tao Te Zeta is an interactive quest-based video game that takes Muslim youth on a journey through seven (7) theme-based worlds. Each quest reveals wisdom from Sacred Texts and challenges the users to uncover truths about the texts and themselves.